Ch 13: First Night in Beacon (2)

"Whatcha doing, Ruby." Ray asked, setting down his bag. As he set it down, Yang caught a glimpse of the scars on his back. A look of guilt and then determination flashed through her eyes as her hands unconsciously tightened into fists at the hauntingly familiar sight.

"Just writing a letter back to the gang at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going."

"Aw, that's so cuuute!" Yang teased Ruby, trying to distract herself. *Poomph* And promptly received a pillow to the face for her efforts.

"Shut up! I didn't get to take my friends with me to school like you two did! It's weird not knowing anyone here!"

"Hey! Why am I included in that? I also don't know anyone here." Ray protested, sitting down cross-legged by his sisters' heads.

"Oh, please. You've already made a ton of friends." Ruby gestured around them at all the girls who started waving at Ray when they noticed him looking over. She then pulled out a black button with Ray's emblem on it in azure-blue over a depiction of Beacon Tower from under her bag. "Look, they've already started making buttons for the Beacon branch of your fan club." Ruby waved the button around in Ray's face, frustrated and annoyed.

Ray frowned and pushed Ruby's hand down, "Fans aren't friends, Ruby. You know that. They'll abandon me as quickly as they joined me if I fall out of style."

"What about Jaune?" Yang tried to divert the topic, "He's.... nice! There you go! Plus one friend! That's a hundred percent increase!" Yang pointed towards where Jaune was walking with Ren and Nora before pausing and taking a second look at him. "Hey, Ray. Aren't those your Zwei PJs?"

"Yeah, Jaune was planning on wearing this baby-blue rabbit onesie that, as his friend, I really just couldn't let him go through with."

Ruby and Yang laughed, and Ruby flipped over onto her back, her melancholy mood lightened but still present. "Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend, though. Back to zero…"

"There's no such thing as negative friends! You just made one friend and one enemy!" Yang tried to stay cheery and was rewarded with another pillow to the face from her beloved sister.

*Sigh* "Look, it's only been one day. Trust us; you've got friends all around you! You just haven't met them yet!" Ray told Ruby as he stroked her head soothingly. Ruby closes her eyes, enjoying the touch before opening them again at the sound of a match being struck.

The siblings look over to see the same bow wearing girl Ruby and Ray had met this morning reading a book by candlelight while sitting against the wall in a short black yukata with white piping that left her legs exposed below the knees.

"That girl…" Ruby whispered.

"You know her?" Yang asked, catching it.

"Not exactly. She's the girl who helped me shoo Weiss away after Ruby exploded. But, she walked away without saying anything after that." Ray explained.

"Well, now's your chance!" Yang hopped up and grabbed Ruby's arm, pulling her to her feet. Ray grinned at Yang's idea and jumped up as well, grabbing Ruby's other arm. Together, the two taller siblings lifted their shorter sibling off her feet and carried her bodily towards the wall where the girl was reading.

"Wait! What are you two doing!" Ruby complained as her feet swung wildly in the air, unable to touch the ground.

"Helloooooo!" Yang sang out, waving at the girl with her free arm as they approached. "I believe you two may know each other." she said. She and Ray finally allowed Ruby's feet to touch the ground again as they placed her down in front of them before the girl.

The girl lowered her book just long enough to glance up at whoever had the audacity to interrupt her reading. "Aren't you the girl who exploded?"

"Uh, yeah! My name's Ruby!" Ruby held out her hand for the girl, but she ignored her and tried to go back to her book. Ruby pulled her hand back awkwardly to scratch the back of her head and tried to press on, "But you can just call me Crater…" Ruby tries to smile and make a joke, "Actually, you can just call me Ruby." but quickly gives up when she sees the girl doesn't care.

Yang shot a questioning glance at Ray from behind Ruby's back. Ray nodded and mouthed "Crater Face" back at her. Yang winced as she found out just how bad her sister's new nickname was. Teasing her about something that bad inside the family was one thing. Letting others was a different matter entirely.

"Okay." the girl said dismissively, her attention still primarily on her book.

"What are you doing?" Yang whispered urgently to her sister, seeing her completely bombing.

"I don't know - help me!" Ruby whispers back. Both Ruby and Yang plastered smiles on their faces as they turn back to the girl while Ray just shakes his head next to them. [Disturbing her reading isn't going to win you any points here, you know.] Ray thought but decided not to say. This would be a good experience for Ruby.

"So… What's your name?" Yang asked, refusing to throw in the towel just yet.

*Sigh* "Blake." The girl says simply, wishing these chatterboxes would just go away.

"Well, Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister! And he's Ray, Ruby's twin brother!"

"Younger twin brother. Younger! That is very important." Ruby interjected.

Blake actually took a moment, this time, to glance up the man who had been silent this entire time. She nodded at him with a small smile and a light blush that was hidden from the others by the dim lighting. Ray nodded back, returning her smile.

"I like your bow!" Yang pressed on, trying to keep a conversation going that had never actually started.

"Thanks." Blake's smile faded.

"It goes great with your… pajamas!" Yang was seriously floundering here.

"Right…" Blake's irritation was now clear to see on her face.

""Ah ha ha"" Ruby and Yang exchange glances, laughing awkwardly. Ray face-palmed, unable to continue watching this train wreck. Letting someone learn to stand on their own two feet was one thing. Watching as they jumped off a cliff was another. Before Yang could say anything else to make the situation worse, Ray walked over and slid down to sit beside Blake, their shoulders almost touching as he leaned in to try and read her book.

"So, what are you reading?" He asked.

"Huh?" His sudden question and close proximity threw Blake and prevented her from understanding the question, though she didn't move away.

"Your book. What's it about? What's its name?" Ray asked, turning his head to smile up at her.

"Well… I-It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body." Blake stuttered slightly.

"Oh, yeah… That's real, lovely!" Yang said sarcastically.

"Ruby loves books." Ray said, throwing an encouraging look at his twin.

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed, excited to have an actual topic. "Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters… They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress."

"Hah, and why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" Blake gave a small laugh and asked, suddenly curious about this positive little girl in front of her.

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books… Someone who fought for what was right and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!"

"That's very ambitious for a child." Blake's smile faded into a sad frown, "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

[You have no idea.] No one noticed the small mysterious smile that played across Ray's lips at that. Except Ruby.

She was always paying attention to her twin brother and had seen that same mysterious, knowing smile on his face many times before. However, she had never been able to figure out what it meant beyond that Ray knew things they didn't. Whenever she had tried to ask him about it, he would brush it off with a 'you'll find out one day' and that same smile. She still hadn't figured out what most of them meant. So, now she would just make a mental note whenever she saw that smile to look back on later, but ignore it for the moment.

"Well, that's why we're here! To make it better." Ruby finished with a smile, acting like it was common sense.

"Oh, I am so proud of my baby sister!" Yang rushed up and gave Ruby a giant bear hug, lifting her clear off the ground.

"Cut it out!" Ruby cried, her limbs flailing, and delivered a short jab to her older sister's smug face. Their sisterly bonding evolved into a wrestling match as a comical dust cloud rose to cover them with only the occasional limbs, shooting stars, and sounds of fighting escaping.

"Are they always like this?" Blake asked Ray giggling.

"More often than I would like to admit." Ray was smiling lovingly as he watched his sisters.

"Well, Ray, Ruby, Yang, it's a pleasure to ha-"

"What in the world is going on over here!? Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?" Blake's goodbye is interrupted by Weiss storming over in a short-sleeved faded-blue nightgown with her hair down.

""Oh, not you again!"" Yang and Weiss cry angrily out, recognizing each other.

"Shh! Guys, she's right! People are trying to sleep!" Ruby tries to mediate between the two to no avail as they continue to shout and argue with each other.

Ray just sighs and stands up before turning around to reach out his hand to Blake. "It was nice to have met you, Blake. Good luck tomorrow."

"Likewise. Good night Ray." Blake takes Ray's hand. However, instead of shaking it, Ray bends down and kisses the back of her hand.

"Amai yume no chīsana koneko." Ray whispers to her before releasing her hand and turning to walk away.

Blake holds the hand Ray had just kissed to her chest as she watches him go bemused and a little confused. That last line Ray had spoken in Japanese, rather than the common language of Remanent, and she was unable to understand him.

Ray grabs Ruby and Yang by their ears as he passes them, dragging them back to their sleeping bags, and throwing a quick "Sweet dreams" at Weiss. Blake blows out her candles as the siblings settle in for the night, and Weiss returns to her sleeping bag. Finally, silence reigns in the ballroom.